News and commentary about white-collar crime, enforcement, and compliance
Harry Cassin
Publisher and Editor
Andy Spalding
Senior Editor
Jessica Tillipman
Senior Editor
Bill Steinman
Senior Editor
Richard L. Cassin
Editor at Large
Elizabeth K. Spahn
Editor Emeritus
Cody Worthington
Contributing Editor
Julie DiMauro
Contributing Editor
Thomas Fox
Contributing Editor
Marc Alain Bohn
Contributing Editor
Bill Waite
Contributing Editor
Shruti J. Shah
Contributing Editor
Russell A. Stamets
Contributing Editor
Richard Bistrong
Contributing Editor
Eric Carlson
Contributing Editor
Privately-held Lindsey Manufacturing is the only corporation to ever face a full jury trial for alleged FCPA offenses.
It lost at trial but eventually won a dismissal because of prosecutorial misconduct.… Continue Reading
Joseph Sigelman, who served as a former co-CEO of PetroTiger Ltd., is the latest FCPA defendant to argue that employees of state-owned enterprises aren’t “foreign officials” under the FCPA.
He was charged in May with bribing an official at Ecopetrol SA, Colombia’s state-controlled oil company, and defrauding PetroTiger by taking kickbacks.… Continue Reading
The FCPA Blog posed this question to the DOJ and FBI’s public affairs’ offices Wednesday: Has the FCPA Unit at the FBI been disbanded? In response, Christopher Allen in the FBI’s Public Affairs Office said: “The FBI’s investigations are managed through the International Corruption Unit, and that unit is absolutely not being disbanded.”… Continue Reading
Here’s what we heard from Jan Handzlik, left, about Wednesday’s FCPA guidance from the DOJ and SEC.
‘The new guidance is, in a word, underwhelming. It’s doubtful U.S. companies and individuals trying to understand the consequences of their actions when doing business abroad will find much real guidance here.… Continue Reading
On the occasion of Roger Clemens’ acquittal Monday for perjury, Nathan Vardi of Forbes catalogued failed white collar prosecutions he said evidenced the DOJ’s abuse of ‘prosecutorial discretion’ and lack of ‘good judgment.’… Continue Reading
The DOJ on Friday (May 25) filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to voluntarily dismiss its appeal in the FCPA case against Lindsey Manufacturing Company, its CEO Keith Lindsey, and CFO Steve Lee.… Continue Reading
Without any appellate record to guide them on the issue of ‘foreign officials,’ should Joel Esquenazi and Carlos Rodriguez have gone to trial? Or should they have plea-bargained for shorter sentences?… Continue Reading
Joel Esquenazi and Carlos Rodriguez — both sentenced to federal prison for FCPA and related offenses — are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to rule that state-owned Telecommunications D’Haiti S.A.M.… Continue Reading
In their appeal filed last week, Joel Esquenazi and Carlos Rodriguez argued that state-owned Haiti Telco wasn’t an ‘instrumentality’ so its personnel weren’t ‘foreign officials.’
It’s the first ‘foreign official’ appeal under the FCPA.… Continue Reading
Even for defendants who are ultimately acquitted, federal criminal prosecutions leave behind a scorched earth of ruined reputations, shattered health, broken families, and drained bank accounts.
With that in mind, Professor Mike Koehler, left, published a paper in this week’s Bloomberg Criminal Law Reporter that talks about the DOJ’s string of losses in recent FCPA trials.… Continue Reading
The DOJ’s once invincible FCPA unit isn’t just losing high profile prosecutions. It’s getting clobbered. And a common theme in the setbacks is a lack of professionalism and preparation.
Del Quentin Wilber of the Washington Post said earlier this month that FBI agents and Richard Bistrong, the chief witness for the prosecution in the Africa sting case, ‘joked about sex, booty calls, prostitutes, cigars, the Village People, the informant’s wives and an agent’s girlfriend.… Continue Reading
The DOJ ramped up FCPA enforcement over the past five years. But could its aggressive pursuit of prosecutions be hurting attempts to deter corruption? It’s possible.
One criminology theory particularly applicable to white collar crime is neutralization.… Continue Reading